Abuse Of Magic 139 Chapter 136 Explaining To Mom

"I want to know everything," said his mother, sitting across from him with her hands in her lap. He knew that she would be wringing them from stress if they weren't tightly clasped.

"Okay, first of all, I can't tell you about one thing. I made a promise to keep it secret, and I can't go against that promise. I can tell you everything else though," he said, running his hands over his knees, nervously.

She thought about that for a moment, then nodded. If she expected him to keep his promise to her, she had to allow that he must keep his promises to others.

"How did you get so old?"

"Stella and I were tracing a corrupted mana signal, and walked into a trap. A demi-G.o.d had placed a magical spell, TIME STOP, to lock us outside of time. It has been nine years for us, but was less then a second for everyone else, when I broke us out of the bubble."

"Nine years? But that would make you," said his father faintly.

"Seventeen," Joseph confirmed.

"Wow," whispered his mom, sitting back with a hand on her forehead. "You were trapped in there for nine years?"

"So, you've gotten stronger in magic," his dad said, sitting back in his chair.

"Yes. I wasn't prepared for the time trap, and once I realized what had happened, I knew that I had to make absolutely sure I was prepared for anything. The only rune I don't know is META."

"Wait, so you could have left sooner, but didn't?" exclaimed his mom, looking horrified.

"Mom, you and dad don't know magic. No one, not even the people I've been training, or even Selena, knows magic like I do. I've seen what these demons can throw at us. At least some of it. I am the only person in the whole world who can even pretend to be able to stop them. I had to make sure nothing happened to you guys."

She looked like she was going to object, but Joseph scooted to the edge of his seat and took her hands in his. They disappeared, and he found himself looking down at them. His hands were so much larger than hers, he could completely cover them. It shocked them all for a moment.

"I have lived many lives, before I was born as your son, Joseph. During my time, trapped in that bubble, I have gone back through my memories of those previous lives, and I did not have a single life with good loving parents. That makes the two of you very precious to me. Far more precious than you can ever imagine. I am determined to do whatever it takes to keep you two safe."

Joseph looked into his mother's troubled eyes, and knew that this was a bit too much for her to comprehend.

"Joseph, it's our job as your parents," began William, but Joseph shook his head.

"No, it was your job as my parents, to keep me safe and to teach me what you could, to be a good person, until I started getting my memories back and discovered magic. Once I got magic, I knew, and know still, that the roles are forever reversed. There are nightmares out there, just waiting to tear the two of you into tiny little pieces, for no other reason than to hurt me. I refuse to let that happen."

His mother still hadn't said anything, her gaze never wavering from his face.

"You were trapped for nine years, how? What happened?" William asked.

"I had to cycle the air, so it didn't become bad. I had to create food and water, and clothes. I created weapons for Stella, golems made from orichalc.u.m, that look like her and respond to her thoughts. I made my weapon, and she helped me train as best we could, to fight with it. I studied every magic rune and spell I could, to its maximum level, to make sure that I could deal with whatever was thrown at me. I even made a few new spells, that hadn't existed before."

"And when you came out of the bubble?" asked his father.

"We killed the demi-G.o.d and all of his followers, that I could find, over the past month."

"So, all of the demon wors.h.i.+ppers are gone?" he asked, excitedly.

"No, just that faction. They were the ones who were the most active at the time. There are four more factions out there, hiding for the moment. I'll need time to find them and deal with them."

"You killed a G.o.d?" whispered his mother. Her hands had gone cold, and her face was pale.

"Only a lesser G.o.d of death," he said, rubbing her hands to warm them.

"Are you still my son?" she asked, reaching up for his face.

"Mom, just because I'm older, doesn't mean I'm not your son." His voice caught in his throat, and he had to cough to clear it. "I have memories of other worlds, which is how I was coming up with things that no one else had ever thought of."

"And that's why you were so different, when I got back to you after you had left for so long," she said, her eyes losing the lost look.

"Yes, I was able to convince people that what I had known was from all the traveling with dad, or from the slave teachers he had tutoring me, and they had no idea."

"I only have one question left, then," she said, pulling her hands out of his, and sitting up in her chair. She looked like the strong woman he remembered, and it brought a smile to his face.

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Is Stella still able to wear white at the wedding?"